Random thoughts

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The saga of medicating my cat

My darling little furball started sneezing on Monday, and when it hadn't gone away by Thursday, I took her to the vet. Turns out she most likely has feline herpes, and now we are going through the usual song and dance routine to get her to take her meds. I have learned from past mistakes and opted NOT for drugs in pill form when the vet gave me the options. One of them (Lysine) comes as treats, which started out okay. I put a few in her dish Thursday night and she gobbled them right up. But she's refused to eat anymore since then despite coating them in cream cheese (I dunno, it was the vet's advice), soaking them in milk, or mixing them with tuna.

Medicine number two (antibiotic), on the other hand... oy. It's a liquid that I'm supposed to feed her via dropper. The first dose wasn't so bad, once I'd bribed her with catnip so she'd even come close to me (she knows when something's up), chased her around the apartment a few times, finally tackled her and squished her between my legs while trying to pry her mouth open, and only spilled a little bit on my carpet. :\ Friday morning... well, I sort of squirted it in her face by accident (OMG NOT MY FAULT SHE WOULDN'T STOP WRIGGLING!), which makes it highly unlikely she'll ever let me try THAT again. I tried mixing this one with tuna, too, but no dice. Wouldn't even go near it. She spent most of yesterday hiding under the bed, and pretty much runs away every time I come close to her, so I'm thinking there will be no more medicating until she's less traumatized.

Meanwhile, I have been nursing a cold of my own. The sore throat started last weekend and progressed into full-on nasal congestion over the course of the week. I have gone through an obscene amount of tissues. And I'm only a little ashamed to admit that when Chelsea started sneezing, I thought, "Is it possible for cats to get human colds?" Our new nicknames are Sneezy and Sniffles.

However, I did get a new camera recently (actually, it's a hand-me-down from my parents, and my mother took the liberty of taking pictures of herself and Patches before she gave it to me. "I knew you'd want them," she said), and have been taking pictures of Chelsea being adorable, so expect another kitty picspam soon.

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2 Comments:

At August 23, 2010 at 5:39 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

i hate pilling cats. did you ever get a pill popper? that's easy to use on one of my roommates' cats. i did have to give a cat some liquid junk one time- i think it pretty much spit it all out. pills seem to be easier, as long as you can throw it down their throat, or use the pill popper.

actually, i pretty much hate all cats that come into the vet. they're pretty much pure evil. unless they're so sick that they can't put up a fight. but even if we make them better, then they get mean once they start feeling better.

there was this insane cat the other day that was ginormous- its back feet looked like rabbit feet, and it kicked pretty awfully too. scratched the crap out of one tech and the doctor- even tore through her scrubs. i think it must have been at least part maine coon. evil cat

 
At August 23, 2010 at 5:50 PM, Blogger Laura said...

No, I never got the pill popper. I couldn't find it in the store, and I figured it wasn't worth buying one online, since it wouldn't have gotten here in time. I suppose I should've thought ahead, that she might need pills again in the future.

Chelsea is actually extraordinarily well-behaved at the vet (probably because she's so terrified she doesn't move). Which means they probably think I'm crazy when I call them and say I can't get her to take her meds, lol. "But she's such a good kitty!"

 

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